Day 16 -- taking it easy in Missoula, Montana -- No miles

Today we're going nowhere -- literally! The biggest reason is that the weather in the northwestern part of the country has turned decidedly wintry and quite cold. Perhaps we should have gotten a clue as we drove north on Route 28 toward the Idaho town of Salmon two days ago. Even though we started our drive under sunny skies, by midday the sunshine had been replaced by an eerie gloom. By the time we reached our camp and had begun to set up, it had begun to rain.

Then, after we'd gone to bed, the heavens opened up and it began to pour heavily. It poured so hard that I got up and retracted the driver's side bump-out which houses the banquet and refrigerator. We discovered in the past that when the bump-out is left extended during heavy rains we do get some water leaking onto the floor.

The next morning, as we rolled out of Salmon and up the canyon toward Missoula, Montana, the previous day's conditions persisted. Light rain continued to fall and the surrounding peaks were heavily shrouded in mist. Later, as we gained altitude, we were astonished to see patches of snow on the roadside and blankets of snow on many of the trees.

We got over the pass okay but by the time we rolled into Missoula around two o'clock, the weather conditions had not improved. Dark and gloomy was the order of the day. By this time Concetta and I had talked it over and decided to stay an extra day in Missoula, which would allow us to do some laundry and to possibly wait out the bad weather before we moved on.

Another "bucket of cold water" came last night as we watched the weather report on TV. The forecaster said that the entire northwestern area was going to experience as much as a week of continued cold weather. This morning the temperature outside the RV stood in the mid thirties. Fortunately, though we tend to burn through a lot of propane, the inside of the RV was a comfortable seventy degrees.

Heat inside the rig wasn't going to be our problem. We can buy propane lots of places, what we cannot buy is safe, ice-free highways. If it gets much colder, we might find ourselves facing some dodgy driving conditions. Of course, in all likelyhood, the Interstates and the main highways will be fine. It's the secondary roads that we like to travel that may not be a good idea because of their infrequent maintenance.

Obviously, the thing to do is to head south from here. Though our intention originally was to head further north and west so that we might explore the most northern reaches of Idaho, we have to be practical. Motor homes and snowy or icy highways do not make good bedfellows. We're disappointed, but we're going to have to forego our original plans and go south.

But here's the thing. When you're in west central Montana, finding roads that head south but that do not include passes that must be ascended and descended can be difficult. I think we can head toward Butte and Bozeman, and that is the current plan. But going to Butte and Bozeman will require driving the Interstate, which we always hate doing. Unfortunately, avoiding the Interstate in this situation means finding secondary roads that don't route us over high-atitude mountain passes. So far, no joy in that area.

And that's the thinking today. Come the morning, things may have changed, but we doubt it. It's always disappointing to have your plans monkey-wrenched, but I'm sure we'll find equally exciting adventures and wonderful scenery traveling south from here. If things go the way I expect, Monday will find us down around Cody, Wyoming. From there we'll probably keep moving south in search of good traveling weather.

Speaking of south, where I grew up in Los Angeles County, winter really wasn’t a familiar experience for me. It was not until I joined the Naval Air Corp and the Navy sent me to a base near Chicago, Illinois that I truly learned about winter and freezing temperatures.

Of all the places for a fun and sun boy to end up! I had requested bases in California and Florida or, failing those, anywhere on the west coast. I think I even requested a base in Washington State, but Illinois had never even been on my radar screen.

I arrived in Chicago in October of 1969 as the fall season was quickly descending into winter. I didn’t even own a heavy jacket at the time, and I was totally aghast at the temperatures I was experiencing. What was worse, after serving a short stint in in the galley – that’s the kitchen and dining areas – I was posted out to the flight line where I got to work outside all winter in steel-toed boots as temperatures plunged below zero.

For the entire winter of 1969/1970 I spent my days fueling, de-fueling, and moving aircraft around the aprons and into the hangers using little four-wheel machines we called “Mules.” There was no escape from the cold, other than to work outside as long as you could stand it, then retreat to the maintenance shack where you could run in place to warm up and bring the circulation back to your feet.

Often it was my ears that got the coldest. Though it was strictly against regulations, I decided to buy myself a warm hat to wear while I was out on the flight line. Eventually I came up with a fur-lined leatherette hat that looked like a cross between a Russian Cossak hat and a World War II pilot’s hat. At the time I called it my “Rocky the Flying Squirrel Hat (photo above right).” I can’t tell you how often my Rocky hat got me dirty looks and sharp words from the officers on the base, but the darn thing kept my ears warm and I kept wearing it.

As I got more proficient in my flight line jobs, I was boosted to “Plane Captain” for the A-4 Skyhawk jet fighter aircraft (photo above left). In that job I had to learn about all the things that needed checking before a pilot could leave the ground with the airplane. I would walk around and do my checks and flash special hand signals to the pilot so that he knew I had checked a specific piece of gear and everything looked fine.

When all the gear had been checked, I gave the pilot a thumbs-up and he signaled back with the same sign. At that point all you had to do was get out of the way and not get hit by the jet blast as he eased the plane into motion and headed past you and out onto the taxiway.

Fortunately, when spring arrived, I was sent off to Navy electronics school, then to anti-submarine tactical school, and I never again had to work outside in the freezing temperatures. I still wore my Rocky hat when it got cold and I had to go flying in the P2-V Neptune anti-submarine planes (photo right), and officers still harassed me for wearing it, but never again did I have to spend time jogging in place to reestablish my circulation and thaw out my feet.